A study in monkeys showed that HIV treatment would be close | Chronic

A preclinical study was able to treat the virus VIS in monkeys (the equivalent of HIV in these animals) by injecting another genetically modified virus and, although the result was not the same in all monkeys, North American researcher Mario Stevenson He said Friday that this line of research "It's what we are closest to the priest."

"We currently have incredible antiretroviral treatments; However, scientists are still looking for a cure, because it is not easy for a person to take his medication every day because the stigma persists and because the expectation of life of people living with HIV is shorter. ", Said Stevenson.

Minutes before the closing conference of the XVI Scientific Guest Symposium, which brought together more than 1,500 scientists and representatives of international and national level civil society, this University of Miami professor and director of the AIDS Institute of this house of advanced studies, he expressed his optimism about the lines of research they develop.

"What has been done in my university is to take a virus called AAV, which is old and has 50% of the population without generating disease, and it has been genetically modified by the introduction of antibodies into the aim of: that they attack HIVExplained Stevenson.

The researcher said the results were encouraging: the modified virus and its antibodies successfully attacked HIV and eliminated it from the body in three of the twenty monkeys who participated in the study.

"In the other 17 cases, the organisms generated antibodies that attacked the antibodies present in the injected virus. Our job is to control these "anti-antibodies". If we succeed, we get closer to HIV treatment"He said.

The scientist recalled that three HIV-positive people in the world had been healed: Timothy Brown, a patient from London and another from Düsseldorf (Germany).

"The three were cured after a bone marrow transplant. But these cases can not serve as a model because this form can be used only with people who, in addition to HIV, have leukemia, because of the risk of bone marrow transplantation, because they are very expensive and that we must also have genetic compatibility with the donor ".outfit.

Another area of ​​research, also in the preclinical phase, is the CRISPR Casp9, which consists, Stevenson explained, "In a kind of molecular scissors cutting DNA, which can be used both to prevent HIV by eliminating the receptor cells or even by eliminating viruses that have been incorporated into the cell's DNA . "

"Antibodies that can attack different strains of HIV have also been developed. The problem is that it allows to get immunity for a while, but then it is eliminated from the body; the challenge here is how to make it sustainable ", he said.

Finally, Stevenson pointed out that "What we will have in a very short time is longer-term treatment that will allow the person to inject once a month, every two or three months, instead of taking tablets every days".

The emergence of new drugs that will be available in less than two years, such as fostemsavir, and even the possible endorsement in 2020 of injectable treatment (cabotégravir and rilpivirine) were also announced at the first day Symposium.

In addition, during these three days, topics such as "Undetectable = Intransmissible", which implies that patients on treatment and with their undetectable viral load do not transmit the virus and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which constitutes the treatment as a form of prevention.

In parallel, discussions with a social approach to the problem have been developed, such as thinking about post-truth science, bad, drugs and good practices in risk reduction and damage; public information and data on the right to health and badual and reproductive rights, badual and gender diversity, and transgender children, among others.